Mobile phones typically employ an Application Processor coupled to two or more Appliances (such as keyboard, display, microphone, speaker, etc.) and to two or more Modems and associated RF Front-ends (for communicating, e.g., in either 3G or 4G cellular standards).
Attention is drawn to FIG. 1 illustrating schematically an exemplary prior art mobile telephone system architecture 100. As shown, the system 100 includes the two antennae 101 and 102 and associated modems 103 and 104 (e.g., operating in either 3G or 4G cellular standards) both coupled to application processor 105, which in turn is coupled to a plurality of appliances. Depending on various criteria, such as the selected appliance by the user and the required communication constraints (say 3G or 4 G communication), the application processor 105 communicates to the appropriate modem and the appropriate appliance.
Implementation of a single application processor connected to two RF front ends and modems is presented in PCT/IB2006/053982, which discloses a miniaturized form factor card that provides a communication system for mobile information devices having an applications processor and user interface components. A receiving frame is provided in the mobile information device and an insertable miniaturized form factor card incorporating means for RF transmission and reception and a wireless modem and having an indexing connector that is received in a mating moiety in the receiving frame. The applications processor and the user interface components in the mobile information device are interconnected to digital functions of the wireless modem and means for RF transmission and reception through the connector. Additionally, the miniaturized form factor card further includes a power management function interfacing with the applications processor and user interface components through the connector.
The prior art introduced also employs utilization of more than one application processor. In example, US 2008/0072014 discloses a mobile computing device with multiple modes, such as wireless communication and personal computing, which has an application processor and a communication processor. In the computing mode, the application processor is the master processor. In the communication mode, the application processor is deenergized to conserve battery power, with the communication processor functioning as the master processor by accessing the device's peripheral bus using the memory interface of the communication processor.
There is a need in the art for a new cellular device architecture and apparatus employing at least two application processors that are alternatingly used and in addition that are strictly and physically separated.